BENGALURU: The Bangalore Development Authority refused to withdraw the Occupancy Certificate to Mantri Serenity Castle Apartment which has 1,140 flats in Doddakallasandra in Kanakapura Main Road despite its engineer recommending it due to multiple violations, stated the Karnataka Home Buyers Forum.
This is the first project in Karnataka undertaken by the Centre’s SWAMIH fund. It is India’s largest social impact fund which aims to finance and monitor the completion of stressed and stalled housing projects.
An RTI query filed on behalf of the forum by its convenor, Dhananjaya Padmanabachar by the end of 2023 sought to know the action taken by the BDA in the aftermath of the notice issued to the builder of Mantri Castles Private Limited on March 8, 2023. The BDA in its response to the RTI on December 26, 2023, said that its assistant executive engineer has recommended the cancellation of the OC for it.
Despite the lapse of 11 months, the OC has not been cancelled. Padmanabhachar, who is also the principal secretary of Mantri Serenity Home Buyers Forum told TNIE, “The apartment functions with lifts which haven’t been approved for operations from the Directorate of Electrical Inspectorate, risking lives of thousands of residents here. The BDA Commissioner's office is not taking any steps to cancel the OC.”
Despite a series of letters from Padmanabhachar to the commissioner as reminders, no action has been taken against the violations, he charged. He added saying that no one has even responded to the repeated mails.
TNIE has a copy of the RTI response and the numerous letters he has written to BDA.